5 comments to Podcast: Carve out time for online networking

Good advice. One big problem I see is people signing up for social media accounts on twitter, plurk, facebook, and others, and it seems like all they do is spam their friends with marketing themselves. While I think it’s fine to promote yourself on social networks, I also think if you aren’t engaging yourself in conversation and getting to know the people you are meeting – nobody is going to pay attention to your marketing efforts that much.

As far as the Zen of Twitter goes, I have twitter fox and that way it just flashes in the corner of my screen and I can skim without having to keep going back and scrolling. That way if something catches my eye I go and find it, but otherwise they just float on by.

i have an online segment to my business so a certain amount of time a day is scheduled for blogging, adding photos to flickr, updating my shops, tweeting, etc. i used to try and do all every day but found it was not cost or time effective so now i do each more like every other day. i set a kitchen timer, which helps a lot. it’s easy to get sucked in on so many of these sites, as i’m sure all who have ventured in can attest to!

Alyson, I followed your previous advice about social networking and starting inviting my photography and art-related contacts to be my Facebook friends. As a result, I feel more like I’m part of a community, not to mention in the loop. I feel closer to these people and have had some great little conversations. I’ve also noticed that I’m getting more hits on my blog, especially to biography, artist statement and exhibitions. Thanks so much for your continued advice!